Earth Day's secret advertising origin - and what it means today

Hi, I'm Ellen Ormesher. I'm sustainability reporter at The Drum and this week, I’ve been digging into the colorful history of Earth Day and reflecting on how it plays such a vital role in the greenwashing debate in 2023.

Fun fact, the original day of action in 1970 remains one of the largest in human history, with over 20 million people taking to the streets to protest the safeguarding of our planet. It was as big then as it is today.

It may or may not come as a surprise that the day is also inherently linked with the advertising industry – the name being coined by the same copywriting legend that also created Volkswagen’s iconic ‘Lemon’ and ‘Think Small’ campaigns. 

That Earth Day and an automotive giant share a common ancestor seems to summarise adland’s sticky relationship with climate change in a nutshell.

Whether brands engage with the day as part of their year-round sustainability strategies, or contribute to the same old greenwashing remains up to them. But I've been keeping a close eye on the work.

Experts warn that brands making misleading or exaggerated claims will be found out sooner or later, as greenwashing regulation and legislation around the world starts to kick in. In the UK, we’ve already seen major clampdowns from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over the terms ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral,’ as well as a major investigation by the CMA into the FMCG category. 

Meanwhile, in the US and Europe, climate organizations are taking action to combat a “tidal wave” of greenwashing by the fossil fuel industry over the terms ‘natural’ and ‘green’ gas.

In Europe, it was hoped that the Green Claims Directive from the EU Commission would take a hard line over the contentious use of carbon offsetting in ads making net zero claims but the submitted draft was criticized for not going as far to brand these claims as unlawful.

But there's hope ahead.

An increasing number of agencies are taking a stand against adland’s contentious relationship with Big Oil. Clean Creatives recently revealed to The Drum that over 500 agencies around the world have now committed to breaking up with the world’s biggest polluters. These agencies include some real heavy hitters.

The next challenge marketers face when it comes to flaunting their environmental clout is cutting through the noise to stand out in a market that’s flooded with greenwashing. Recent research from GFK found that more half of US consumers couldn’t recall a single sustainable brand. So is the spend being wasted?

A trend is starting to emerge – one of transparency and honesty around how far firms have to go to reduce their impact on the planet. An honest marketer? That sounds risky.

Patagonia recently told The Drum that while it considers itself a responsible company, you won’t catch it calling itself sustainable. Jelle Mul, the brand’s senior marketer in Europe told me the only path to true net zero is to “not make products and produce no ads”. Well. That's not an option, so what's the next best thing?

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